


Wide Eyed

by EveandJohnny



Series: The Radiologist [7]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Everybody Lives, F/M, How to Train Your Dragon AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-03-27 01:05:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13869798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EveandJohnny/pseuds/EveandJohnny
Summary: When Newt is lost in Hong Kong's streets, he sees himself confronted with one of the beasts humanity had tried to fight for so long now. But instead of getting killed, he makes a step towards ending the war.





	1. A New Friend

**Author's Note:**

> This AU was imagined by sadfishkid over on tumblr and I immediately jumped on it. Though the writing process has slowed down a little, I'm still more than eager to write it. This is also probably set in the universe with my Pacific Rim OC but I'm not sure yet if she will make an appearance.

„Oh, shit!“ Newt muttered. In his back he felt the rough stone walls of a narrow alleyway somewhere in the Kaiju slums of Hong Kong. And in front of him towered one of the beasts humanity had been trying to extinguish in the past twelve years.

The beast sniffed curiously with his three nostrils, causing the horns on his snout to vibrate. A little bit of  blue spit dripped from his lips. It sizzled when it hit the ground and left a little crater in the stone.

Newt took a deep breath, closed his eyes and held his arms crossed in front of his face. This was it, he thought. Life was over. He even didn’t think it necessary to pray for a better outcome. Well, he’d never been on the religious side, he believed in numbers (though less intensely than his lab partner Hermann) and tangible experiment results. Every second now, he expected to be swallowed whole and then scrape his living inside a Kaiju’s stomach, slowly and painfully being digested by its blue acids.

When nothing happened after several minutes of him jittering and facing sudden death, however, he popped one eye open and peered through the gap in his arms. The beast still stood there, spit dribbling. It had tilted his head, looking curiously and not the least bit threatening. Newt allowed himself to relax a little, though he still tried to back away. Which was impossible, he had just forgotten that there was no escape. That made his hair stand to attention once more. But he put on a brave face and straightened. He held up a hand. The beast focused on his open palm and followed it with its eyes when Newt moved it up and down, to the left and to the right, and then described a slow circle with it.

Newt raised an eyebrow. Why was the Kaiju not attacking him as it had done with the half of the city? Well, at least that’s what they had thought for quite a while but then he had become suspicious. Their attacks had never seemed targeted, instead rather randomly as if they were staggering drunkenly through a shop full of fine china. A thought sprang to his mind. Was this the opportunity he had looked for since he had taken an interest in Kaijus?

“So, Otachi –“

Well, what do you say to such a beast? He had been so eager to meet one that he hadn’t thought about what to do afterwards. Did it even understand him?

But it huffed, as if responding to the name, and he took this as a good sign. He gave up his defensive position entirely. “How…do you feel?” As soon as he had asked he scolded himself internally. What a stupid first question! He should have thought about something world-movingly. But, alas, that’s not what you came up with in such a situation.

Otachi dropped its head and slumped its shoulders, giving a rather miserable impression.  
Newt looked at him observantly. Apparently, the Kaiju had indeed understood him. “Not feeling too well, buddy, huh? That’s probably natural when you’re made responsible for the destruction of half the world.” He pondered it for a moment and an even more daring notion occurred to him. “But I think”, he hesitated, then soldiered bravely on “I could help you. And your friends. Siblings. Colleagues. Or whatever they are to you.”

The Kaiju lifted its head a little and Newt thought he saw a flicker of excitement in the beast’s eye.

“There’s only one problem.”

Immediately, the beast dropped its head again.

“No, no, it’s not that bad. But I somehow have to get you past our guards. Or at least hide you until I can get the drifting equipment to you. Let me think.” Then he remembered the destroyed Kaiju shelter he just fled from. By now, it should be evacuated. He looked around and saw a couple of paper wrappers flying up over an air duct. “Bingo!” he muttered. “Follow me!” he said enthusiastically and motioned the Kaiju to follow him, though he still edged past it very carefully. First, he checked that the street was deserted. He couldn’t think of a plausible reason why there was neither a Jaeger nor a squadron of helicopters here yet, but all the better.

A couple of hundred metres down the street was the entrance to a locked-up subway station. After the Kaiju assault on Tokyo, authorities had closed all subways, in case the beasts could maybe use this to attack from underground as well. Now, it hopefully proofed to be the perfect hiding spot for the Kaiju. As if it had read Newt’s mind, Otachi wagged its tail, causing more rubble and dust to whirl through the air. At first, Newt wanted to shush it but then he realized that it had made it even more difficult to be spotted from the air. He got a little more impressed with the Kaijus then he was before.

When they stood in front of the subway gate, they were both lucky and unlucky. The entrance wasn’t bricked up but it was barred with a chain link fence and a heavy shackle. “Eh…” Newt scratched his head. But the Kaiju burped and flobbed a ball of blue acid at the fence. It sizzled chillingly, then the fence was gone. Newt nodded approvingly. The sudden roar of a faint helicopter tore him out of his silent appreciation. He quickly ushered the beast into the tunnel and down the defunct escalator.

Everything was covered in thick layers of dust. Newt sneezed, and the Kaiju sneezed, too, but it sounded more like an imitation of Newt’s. “Okay, stay here! Do not, I beg you, do not leave!” He looked Otachi straight into the eyes. “I will be back as quick as I can, with food and my equipment. Again, stay here!” he added with emphasis. Newt had figured that the Kaiju maybe didn’t understand his words but certainly his tone. And as Otachi had proofed to be clever before he hoped it would stay that way.

Newt wanted to stay under the radar, so he chose the abandoned subway tunnels instead of returning to the surface.


	2. Partners In Crime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt tries to hide what he's doing but that's easier said than done.

“Newt! What are you doing?” the sharp, heavily accented voice from his lab partner echoed through the dimly lit space.

 Newt froze in his movement, namely loading up drift equipment onto his arms. He slowly turned until he faced Hermann who came over as quickly as his limp would allow him. When he stood in front of Newt, he pointed his cane first at the equipment and then put it accusatorily on his chest.

“What do you need the drift equipment for?” he asked in a low and kind of threatening tone.

Newt was a terrible liar, though he still tried it. “Er, for nothing?”, with a corner of his mouth lifting into a smile to charm himself out of the situation.

“Don’t try to fool me! What atrocities have you come up with now?”

Newt cowered a little and backed away a couple of steps. “No atrocities! A scientific experiment. Highly important for our research and in the end the fate of the human world.”

Hermann raised an eyebrow and wanted to say something. Newt feared another accusation but Hermann only said “I will come with you to have an eye on you. You have a knack on wreaking havoc wherever you go.”

Newt’s shoulders slumped and he nearly dropped the equipment. “You would do that for me?”

Hermann sneered. “Of course not for you. If anything at all, for my own reputation. Now we better get going before the Marshal catches us.”

“Yeah, you’re right. You’ll like it, I promise.”

Hermann’s eyebrows shot up again. “I doubt that. Now move, Geiszler.”

***

Hermann may not look like it but he was not one to shy away from a dirty environment. Even though his favourite dust was the one of chalk, he didn’t mind the grime and the mud of the Hong Kong subway stations too much. Though when a rat scurried past him on the way to Newt’s surprise, he hopped disgustedly out of the way.

“Oh, come on, Herms, don’t frighten that little rascal so much” Newt smirked.

“I wonder who’s frightened from the two of us. And I’ve told you a hundred times to not call me Herms.”

“Yeah, whatever, Hermi.”

Hermann glared at him but just then they walked through the last archway. “Newton!” he gasped when he became aware of the huge beast that squatted beneath the low flickering light of a couple of threadbare light bulbs.

Otachi pricked up his ears when it heard them and turned, looking curiously at them.

“You brought a Kaiju? Are you mad?” Hermann whispered, not leaving the beast of out sight.

Newt puffed. “I’m not mad. This is a scientific breakthrough! Imagine all the critical information we can obtain by building a drift link to a Kaiju’s brain. We could prove what we’ve been always suspecting-“

“What _you_ were suspecting, you mean. Saying, that the Kaijus actually don’t want to destroy us. They are just, how did you put it once? Oh yes, _clumsy_!”

“And I’m sure they are!” Newt retorted with emphasis, then looked for a suitable platform to put on his equipment.

Hermann muttered something unintelligible and quickly hurried after Newt as he didn’t want to stand in the Kaju’s way all on his own. He kept side-eyeing the beast while Newt set up the equipment.

“So, I’m done. Now, the tricky part” Newt announced and looked over to Otachi. “Come here, my little friend, this is gonna be fun!” Newt motioned the Kaiju to come over. Hermann slid behind Newt and stepped back. Newt gingerly tugged at Otachi’s horns so he could better reach his head. “Now, don’t be scared. It will be a little cold, a little tingling but it’s gonna be over soon. I will place this headpiece…er…on your head plate.” He knocked on it, then turned to Hermann. “You think the rays will go through?”

Hermann was still wary of the beast but his scientific interest kicked in. “No, that doesn’t look promising. We somehow must penetrate the skull plate. Without hurting the Kaiju, of course” he added, when Newt shot him an accusing look.

“But how?” He scratched his head when he looked at the things they had.

Hermann scrunched his face in concentration. “We need help. Let me call someone.” He punched the buttons on his walkie-talkie.

It crackled and Newt heard a female voice on the COMM “Willems here, hello?”

“Hello Annabelle, this is Hermann. Could you spare some time to come to an abandoned subway station? And could you please bring your surgery kit?”

“Er” Annabelle hesitated a little, but then said “Okay, tell me the address and I’ll be there. By the way, do you have any idea where Otachi has vanished? The entire LOCCENT is looking for it.”

Hermann and Newt exchanged a look. “No, we don’t know, sorry.”

“Then I also probably shouldn’t ask why you are in an abandoned subway station when a Kaiju could still rampage through the city at any moment. Anyway, I’ll be there as quick as I can.” They heard that she had to stifle a laugh.

“Wonderful” Hermann said and closed the connection. He looked to Otachi and, gingerly, extended a hand. “Ah, uh, good boy, yes, you are a good boy. Now, please just stay calm, please!”

“Don’t be whiny, he hears it” Newt said. He went around Otachi’s head and patted it on the cheek.


	3. A Huge Step For Mankind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt and Hermann finally drift with a Kaiju.

Stacker Pentecost stepped into the K-Science lab, expecting to see his two Kaiju scientists squabbling and bickering over each other’s ideas. Instead, the laboratory was eerily empty. He neither found an offended Hermann Gottlieb contemplating about Kaiju offal littering the floor on his side of the office nor an agitated Newton Geiszler arms deep in the exact same offal. The only sound that disturbed the silence was the whirring of Geiszler’s strange devices to keep the Kaiju parts alive. Pentecost raised an eyebrow and closed the door again, continuing to the radiologist’s office. When he opened that door, he somehow wasn’t really surprised to find this bureau abandoned as well. He sighed in resignation and closed the door again, then went back to LOCCENT, planning to send out a search troop as soon as he got there.

***

Meanwhile, Annabelle reached the subway station and was only mildly impressed when she saw the giant Kaiju crouching in the hall. It was the first to notice her and curiously sniffed into her direction.

“Ah, you finally made it. Great, let’s begin.” Newt came towards her and Hermann quickly followed him, he still didn’t trust the Kaiju further than he could spit.

“Do you want to do what I think you want to do?” Annabelle looked up to Otachi and raised her arm in a greeting gesture.

“Well, don’t you agree that this is an _amazing_ opportunity?” Newt urged as he helped her up the Kaiju’s head, making sure it kept still and didn’t frighten.

She smiled and settled on Otachi’s head plate. “It certainly is.” She stroked the Kaiju’s head, then started the bone drill.

Newt and Hermann watched tensely and collectively held their breaths until she stopped and requested the needle. “Is the little one still okay?” Newt checked with Otachi who in response tried to lick his hand.

“Ah, that’s maybe not the best idea.” Then he turned to Hermann to fix the drifting piece on his head. Hermann in turn helped Newt. “So, Anna, you are here to observe and in case anything goes wrong, you immediately get help, you understand?”

She nodded in agreement, then Newt pressed the crucial button.

***

The drift took longer and longer. Annabelle watched anxiously as Newt and Hermann screwed their faces this way and that and once Hermann’s hurt leg spasmed in a very unnatural manner. But also the Kaiju wasn’t unaffected. It whined lowly and agitatedly scratched the concrete floor with its claws. Annabelle decided that she’d seen enough but she couldn’t just kill the connection between the three. That would have probably left everybody involved completely insane. To keep her hands off the devices, she started rocking to and fro on the Kaiju’s head.

_Newt was in the lab. He was younger, had less tattoos and longer hair. A blue flame shot up before him on the Bunsen burner. He could just avoid it burning his nose. But his lab comrades had heard the loud swish and looked worriedly in his direction. The professor teaching them only rolled his eyes, muttered “Geiszler!” in a distressed way and continued scribbling down formulas with a creaky piece of chalk._

_Hermann sat hunched over a huge leather-bound volume. He eagerly took notes in his quick and cramped handwriting. Oh, this could be the breakthrough in his thesis! He was so close to figuring out of what Kaiju Blue exactly consisted. An assumption nagged at the back of his mind that – if his guess proved to be true – Kaiju Blue could essentially be made useful, therewith kind of redeeming its otherwise destructive value._

_A vast hall stretched into what seemed oblivion. There burnt a sun that looked like a bloodshot eye. On a platform stood a group of unearthly creatures, terrifying yet strangely beautiful, with beady eyes and intricate skull pieces. They observed the rows of monsters being grown beyond the platform with ever growing pride. They were not proud of them but proud of themselves for finally getting the genetics right! They had built the perfect war machine that would destroy those vermin on the earth for good. Well, they thought they had done it right but actually their soldiers had one big flaw. For one reason or another, they had completely ignored their curious and friendly nature._

Finally, Newt gasped back to consciousness and tore off the head device. Now Hermann moved more controlled as well. He looked to Newt, then quickly covered his mouth with his hand and hastened into a dark corner to vomit. Meanwhile, Annabelle gingerly removed the big needle and closed the wound in the skull plate of the Kaiju with a mouldable texture that would harden very fast. When she was done she looked down to Newt who tried to stop his nose bleed. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet and breathing heavily. As Hermann came back, he brusquely grabbed him at the arm.

“Have you seen this? That’s absolutely fantastic! I knew it and now we can legitimately prove it. The Kaijus are completely innocent.” He beamed. And as he was too oblivious to his surroundings, even to Hermann’s struggle out of his surprisingly iron grip, he didn’t notice how the Kaiju politely helped Annabelle down its head. It even gave her a claw so she wouldn’t lose her balance.

“Well”, Hermann said as Newt had finally let go of him “I wouldn’t call it fantastic but it explains a lot. And yes, you were right. Now we have to take the information to the Marshal.” He dusted his jacket.

Annabelle patted Otachi on the nose, then walked over to them. “But somebody has to stay here. I mean, you two drifted with it but Newt still has the best connection to it. Or do you want to take Pentecost here?” she asked.

They looked at her wide eyed and hurriedly said in unison “No, no, no!”

“I mean, you’re right. The best is that I stay here and you two go. Hermann can explain best what we have seen and you can vouch for us. Maybe, in the meantime, I can try to find a way to sever the connection between the alpha and the Kaijus.”

“That is a sound plan and as soon as the Marshal doesn’t need us anymore we will be back to help” Hermann offered.

“Brilliant!” Newt exclaimed, hit Hermann amicably on the back, then shoved them off to the exit.


	4. Get Ready

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Marshal learns about Otachi's whereabouts but sudden events prevent that he can get the Kaiju under his control.

The Marshal was again not surprised that it were the radiologist and one of the Kaiju scientist who stood in front of his office door. Well, he was a little surprised that it weren’t both K-scientists.

“Gottlieb, Willems, where have you been?”, he asked calmly though you could sense the tension in his shoulders.

“We had, er, investigations to make, sir” Herman explained as he stepped into the office.

Annabelle nodded. “Yes, sir, a breakthrough in the Kaiju war.”

Pentecost pricked up his ears and eyed them intently. “Well, that is good news if it’s true. Does it also explain the sudden absence of both Dr Geiszler and the Kaiju Otachi?”

The two scientists looked caught. Attack seemed to be the best way of defence, at least to Annabelle. So she said “Yes, Dr Gottlieb and Dr Geiszler were able to drift with the missing Kaiju.”

“With the aid of Miss Willems” Hermann added.

A very quick look of utter shock appeared on Pentecost’s face but it was gone in a flash. Instead he gave them a reprimanding look. “Why did you not notify me about it?”

“We had to make a rapid decision, sir. There was unfortunately no time to get your permission. But the results will please you, at least partially. The Kaijus are connected by a hive mind to an aggressive alpha mind. They steer the Kaijus that are clones but still have individual characteristics. Our next step will be to figure out how to cut the connection. Newt, I mean, Dr Geiszler is already pondering it.”

Pentecost took a moment to process the information, then he demanded “Lead me to him!”

Hermann and Annabelle exchanged a look. “I’m not sure that this is a good idea” Hermann dared to object. “You see, er, the Kaiju is still there.”

Pentecost gave him a stern look that didn’t tolerate any dissent. “Take me to him!” he ordered.

Annabelle wanted to disagree but swiftly shut up when Pentecost gave her the same look. “You, Willems, stay here and inform Ranger Hansen. I will go with Dr Gottlieb and when solutions have been found I will notify you. But you wait for any actions until I am back. You are dismissed, Willems.”

She bowed – she still refused any military greetings – and hurried out of the office.

“Now, Gottlieb, I would like to see the Kaiju.”

***

Newt, who had been teaching the, as it turned out, rather clever Kaiju some tricks like sit and roll, froze when he saw the Marshal marching through the subway gate.

“Geiszler!” he called “I am impressed though I thought you had gotten your hands on a Kaiju that had been killed shortly before. I never anticipated you to be that suicidal.”

“Eh, well, I take my chances when I get them, sir” Newt replied uneasily and scratched his head.

“I have already heard the report. You say the Kaijus are not inherently evil?” By now Pentecost stood in front of Otachi but who would have thought him to be impressed was proven wrong. More so, the opposite occurred as Otachi sensed the Marshal’s authority and leaned demurely back.

Newt, relieved to find the Marshal not entirely hostile against the Kaiju and also apparently open for their ideas, heaved a sigh. “No, sir, they aren’t! Their nature is actually a rather kind one but the alpha mind, which is embodied in a group of other beasts called the Precursors, controls them and sends them on their destructive missions. I have tried to think of a way to snap the connection but so far I was unlucky. I always I end up at one solution – which is the one we have already.”

“So, even though you have taken the risk of drifting with a living monster you are still not closer to a solution then we were before. Was that worth it, Dr Geiszler?”

Newt nervously fidgeted with his cuffs. “Yes, it was very risky, but not unworthy. As I said, we have gotten a once-in-a-lifetime view into the minds of our archenemies. Though you know that I don’t think of them as such.” Now he had talked himself into bravery. “What I pledge for is that, yes, we have to follow our plan but - “ he made a dramatic pause and stepped up to Otachi “- we keep this little fellow here!”

Hermann sucked in a sharp breath. He had always thought Newt a little mad but this was beyond insanity. Before the Marshal could object as well, Newt continued “And the drift was useful for one particular reason. We always tried to destroy the breach with a nuclear bomb but it never worked because the blow got reflected, right? What the drift told us is that the breach scans the Kaiju’s DNA like a barcode at the supermarket. We somehow have to let the breach think that the bomb is a Kaiju!” He triumphantly shook his fist.

Marshal Stacker Pentecost eyed him thoroughly. “Good, Dr Geiszler. But if we want to close the breach as soon as possible we only have one Kaiju DNA at hand.” He didn’t need to specify which DNA that was.

Immediately, Newt jumped protectively in front of the Kaiju. “No sir, with all due respect, Otachi is far too valuable to be just a disposable key!”

Pentecost crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Do you have another option then?”

Newt looked down on the floor. “No”, he muttered defeatedly. When he looked up again, Pentecost towered right in front of him. “Goodness, sir!”

Pentecost tilted his head. “What was that?” He indicated his ear.

“No sir, I don’t have any other idea” Newt admitted through gritted teeth.

“Well, then I’m very sorry that we have to take such drastic measures. Until we have the Jaegers ready for action you will look after the Kaiju, you copy that?” He looked at Newt and Hermann who nodded. Suddenly the Marshal’s comm crackled to live.

“Sir, this is Tendo Choi, can you hear me?”

Pentecost answered affirmatively.

“There is a movement in the breach, two signatures. Please, wherever you are, get here immediately.”

“I will. In the meantime, get the Jaegers ready for deployment.”

“Aye, sir.”

Pentecost glanced sideways at Newt. “It looks that we don’t need your Kaiju after all. Nonetheless, I will send a squadron.” He marched to the exit but stopped for a moment and turned. “A barcode, you said?”

Newt nodded silently and then watched the Marshal vanish in the shadows.


	5. And Off We Go!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle is here so Pentecost's focus is turned elsewhere. That is Newt's opportunity to escape.

Up in LOCCENT, the Marshal watched as the four Jaegers got deployed. This was hopefully the very last shot, so why not give it all they had? Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha were to defeat the Kaijus, Striker Eureka would deliver the nuclear bomb and Gipsy Danger served as the rearguard in the case of unforeseen events. Beside Pentecost stood the radiologist whose nerves were stretched till they nearly burst. Everyone around her was anxious, of course, but she had come up with a back-up plan, in case the four Jaegers were not able to bring the pilots back home alive. Well, she had an idea but she was still unsure if it would work. She had saved one life at a time before but never were there nine lives dependent on her magical gemstone. Before Mako had suited up, Annabelle had given it to her and then had quickly gotten her hands on personal items of the pilots. Though she was still not sure if she was able to handle all of them at once. So, she hoped that it all worked out the way the Marshal had planned it.

The four Jaeger teams confirmed that they were only five hundred metres away from the breach. Via the helmet cameras of the robots the members of LOCCENT could follow the events at the bottom of the ocean. Two Kaijus hovered low over the opening in the earth’s surface. When the Jaegers came in sight they growled but didn’t attack yet.

“Why do they wait?” asked Tendo and watched with a furrowed brow the stalemate between the beasts and the Jaegers. Then he looked up to Pentecost who stood behind him with his hands clasped behind his back.

Pentecost leaned forward and observed the footage. “We wait for them to make a move.” He activated the intercom “Pilots, don’t interfere until the Kaijus attack. Copy that?” He received affirmation from all crews. As if the Kaijus had heard him, they finally swam forward. With a couple of powerful strokes, they were close to the Jaegers which had gotten themselves ready to launch.

***

As soon as the Marshal had left, Newt started collecting the drift gear and shoved parts of it into the arms of his flabbergasted lab partner. “Hermann”, he said, “you have to bring that back to the lab! Please hurry. I need a head start!”

Hermann stopped in his movements, he had nearly automatically complied to his order. “Newt!” he cried out, “you don’t want to do what I think you want to do!”

“Yes, of course! I can’t just leave Otachi here. Who knows what they are going to do to him? What they’re going to force _me_ to do!” He gently pushed Otachi to the nearest exit.

“What do you think this will do? You will be outlawed for your actions. Is this beast really worth it?”

Otachi ducked his head as if it had understood Hermann’s words.

“How dare you talk about him like that? He has feelings!” Newt steered the Kaiju around Hermann. “When we hurry we may have a chance before the others close the breach. So, either you help and buy me some time or you get out of the way. Yeah, maybe we could get lots of interesting information from him but when the breach is sealed – what does it matter?” He was nearly out of the subway station by now.

“Newt! Newton! Dr Geizler!” Hermann cried out in despair. But in the end, he fulfilled Newt’s request and gathered the rest of the drift equipment with which he tried to hurry back to the Shatterdome. He cursed because, every once in a while, a piece dropped and when he tried to pick it up, usually more clattered to the slippery floor.

***

He arrived at the lab sweat-soaked and panting. Just when he had laid down everything, Annabelle stormed into the lab.

“Hermann, good that you’re here. Hurry, they’re about to close the breach.” She looked around. “Where’s Newt?”

Hermann sighed exasperated. “Don’t ask. Please, don’t ask!” He nervously mopped off the sweat on his forehead.

“Okay, I won’t then. But you should come to LOCCENT. I just hope they can make it this time.” She indicated the door. He limped past her and together they rushed to the mission’s control centre.

Marshal Pentecost turned around when he heard the quick tock of Hermann’s cane on the metal floor. “Hello Dr Gottlieb. I thought I had told you to look after the Kaiju?”

Hermann mopped his brow again. “Yes, sir, you did but Dr Geiszler proved capable of watching it alone. How far have the events on the bottom of the ocean thrived?” he tried to distract.

Pentecost eyed him another second, then turned back to the holographic screen. “Rather far indeed. The two guard Kaijus are dead, the Hansens are already on the surface of the ocean and now the remaining Jaeger teams prepare Striker Eureka with a Kaiju carcass to drop together into the breach. After they have fallen down, we will detonate the bomb from afar. Then the gate and the Anteverse will hopefully be destroyed.” He paused for a moment. “Where is Dr Geiszler really?”

Hermann gulped. “With the Kaiju, as I said. In the subway station.” He tried to sound composed and self-assured.

Pentecost turned again, an eyebrow raised. “Is that so?”

Hermann nodded and forced himself to look the Marshal straight in the eye.

“Well, if you say so.”

“Sir, Striker Eureka is ready to drop”, Tendo notified the Marshal and drew his attention back to the screen. He leaned into the intercom. “Cherno, Crimson, Gipsy, get out of there!” he ordered.

The teams copied that and Pentecost took a deep breath. They still had a crucial step to take but they had nearly gotten all the way. The war had been going on for twelve years, they had been reduced to the resistance about a year ago but now they had nearly reached their goal. It was rather unbelievable to him at the moment. Stacker Pentecost was a rational man but the stress had gotten the better of him. He knew that he had given the perfect image of a person who exactly knew where they were leading the people under him, the people who trusted him, but deep down he had his doubts. He had been taking his medication but he hadn’t made any plans for the time after a possible close. Now he didn’t know what would come. But before he really had to think about a future that maybe wasn’t coming there was the ordered take down of the Shatterdomes and the cleaning up of the entire world.

***

Down at the breach, an from its pilots abandoned Striker Eureka stood at the edge of the cliff, fire and smoke were rising from the gaping wound in the earth’s crust. Crimson Typhoon pulled the remains of a beast named Raiju, that Lady Danger had sliced nearly in half, over to the still Jaeger. The Wei triplets were panting heavily, the fight before against Scunner had been successful though the beast had defended itself with surprising durability. Mako and Raleigh tried to drag their Jaeger over to help but the triplets told them to stop. On the contrary to Crimson, Lady G was missing one arm that Raiju had bitten off when the Jaeger had been trapped between two massive rocks, and one leg was damaged by acid. Though Crimson was battered as well, he was in better shape. Instead, Cherno Alpha helped to drape the cadaver into Striker’s arms. They reported the state of the operation to LOCCENT and in return got the order to evacuate. The Kaidanovskys pushed the once fastest Jaeger of the fleet off the cliff, then started running away. Together with Crimson, they took Lady G between them. They could have taken the way through the escape pods but if there was the slight chance to not just save the world but also their Jaegers, they would take it.

“We’re out of the critical mile, sir” Sasha Kaidanovsky said through the intercom.

“Then we will discharge the bomb in five, four, three, two, one” Pentecost counted down and pressed a red button on the dashboard.

***

The blow was tremendous. Plunged deep into the seabed, the three Jaegers waited it out as the water washed over them in an enormous wave. Fish flopped desperately in the sand and were raining on the robots.

Suddenly, the water rushed back with brutal force and the teams had trouble keeping their machines in place.

When the sea was level again, the Jaegers raised their heads, looked at each other and heaved themselves up. It was time to go home.


End file.
